The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is an enormous and enormously ambitious project. It generates data of a richness and complexity beyond any simple survey. The broad utilization of the information it provides can be aided through the use of more evocative data displays. In this report, the uses to which data tables are put is examined, and ways are suggested in which the construction of tables can be modified to enable them to carry out their roles more efficaciously. A theoretical structure is also discussed to aid in the development of test items to tap students' proficiency in extracting information from tables. Five figures and 18 tables illustrate the discussion. (Contains 17 references.) (SLD)